Front-wheel drive for traction-vehicles.



L. K. BROWN., FRONT WHEEL DRIVE POR TEAGIIONt VEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, 1908.'

Patented Nov. r16.- 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

L. K. BROWN. -PRONT 'WHEEL DRIVE POR TRAGTION VEHIGLES.

[ZAPPLIAGATION FI'LBD SEPT. 8,1998.v

Patented Nov.f16, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

` LEWIS K. BROWN, oF Aso'rIN, WASHINGTON..

FRONT-WHEEL IDRIIVE FQBTRACTIO-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 8, 1908. Serial No. 452,156.

Patented Nov. l1e, l1909.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I', LEWIS K. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, 'residing at Asotin, yin the county of4 Asotin and the State of Washington, have invented new and usetul Improvements in a Front-VVheel Drive for Traction-Vehicles, of which the following is a speciiication. Y

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and eifective appliance by which the motive 'power on a tractionvehicle may be applied to all fourvv of the Wheels and to parts in all the figures.

'wheel and axle as viewed from the front;

The same numerals represent the same I have found by an experience of over four vears in building, operating and repairing a. 14.00() 'po'uud vehicle of this kind, that vast iron is too brittle;` and' that to make the mechanism reliable most of the castings illust be of steel.

The hollow pieces of axle casing 14, 14 I make of standard' double extra steel pipe, putting suitable bearings on the inside of themfor the inclosed live axle piecesl, 13, to rotate in.

In the hinged boxing, or hingedy ortions of the axle casing 4, 4 I babbitt the Vearings for the jointed pieces 3, 3 of the axle to run in.l

Referring to the accompanying drawings the blocks 27, 27, the disks 17, 17, and the attached pieces of axle casing 1.4, 14, when assembled 'as shown, forma centrally disposed housing inclosing an ordinary sprocket driven differential ear 15,15, 18, 18-and 19, which with the inc osed pieces 13,13 of the live axle Vform collectively an ordinary live axle and casing.

'l`heuniversal'joint shown at 3, 6- connecting the laterally swingable portion of the live axle 3 with the fixed portion of the live .axle 13 is a well vknown mechanism but mustbe of a form in whichthe axes intersect. cen trally at about righ-t angles. Y f

In order to app y the moti-ve power to the front and steering wheels, as Well as to the hind wheels, and to put the whole vehicle on yieldable spr-ings, except theaxle mechanism, l have formed the horizontal gudgeons 11, ll, on theblocks 27, 27 of the housing of the front axle. On these gudgeons are' placed suitable bearings on which to fasten the center portions of a pair of leaf springs 12, 12, the'outer ends of the springs carrying the front end of the vehicle, and when fastened, they hold 'the axle mechanism substantially at right angles tothe body of the vehicle and allow ythe front axle to easily conform to the uneven places in the road. I place these gudgeons 11, l1 a little above the enter of the housing in order to give. room below them for the links 8A and 9 to move freely under them; I :j j

On the back endof the backA gudgeonl 11 is formed a recessv forgrollersftobear against a block 37 on-,the .body ofthe vehicle. The block 37, through tlelrller-bearing 1l, with- -sta'nds the pull ofthe rive chain 29` and allows the Avehicle to ld'easily on the springs 12 12. i, zIo make theye i uidable, I placeper-A pendicularly hinged ntson the axle casing near eachfront'wheelas shown in'Fig. 3 at 4, 26, 16 andl 14 in which 14 is the rigid axle casing, 16 is a'forked casting shrunkrigidly thereon in a perpendicular position with bearings on the upper and lower ends of it to holdthe gudgeons26, 26 of the hinged boxing 4 coaxially at right angle tothe cen-4 ter line of the casing piece 14. 'he castings `16 and 4 have 'a large enough opening between them to allow the universal joint 3, 6 onv the live a'xle to move easily therein through all the horizontal angle range in which it is to work, and the gudgeons 26,V 26 on 4 are placed so that their common axis Y is perpendicular and intersects the axesof the universal joint, 3, 6 in the live axle 3, 13.

. Each front wheel is built on a cast hub 2' with a large recess on the innersidefof it to casing 4 to pass into'the wheel and have -a bearing over the base of the wheel 1 on the hinged portion of the live axle 3, the outer projection of the hub 2 being keyed rigidly alsv to the outer'end of thepiece 3 of the live axle.

n On the back side of the hinged boxing 4, 4 are fastenedhorizontal rearwardly andin-v Wardly projecting arms or bell cranks 7, 7 the hackl ends of these arms 7, 47 are pivoted to the link 8 which holds lthe two front wheels substantially parallel to each other; on one or' these arms 7 is pivoted the link 9 which connects with a steering head as at l0.

In operation it can be seen that when power is applied to rotate vthe counter shaft 21 the sprocket' wheel 22 carrying the sprocket chain 24 will rotate the hind wheels 28, ,28, and the sprocket wheel 20 on the counter shaft 2l will drive the chain 29 over the sprocket wheel 19 in the housing of the front axle mechanism and thus simultaneously rotate the front wheels 1, 1 causing the vehicle to move overl the ground. The vehicle can be guided by means of a steering head placed at l0 and connected by the link 9 to an arm 7, the link 8 connecting the arms 7, 7 which are fastened to the hinged boxing 4, 4, adjusting the jointed pieces 3, 3 of'the live axle and the attached wheels 1, 1, thus guiding the vehicle. inthe desired direction.

Having thus' described my invention what Iclaim is:

1. With an axlecasing and housing inclosing a centrally disposed diferential gear and inclosed driving sprocket wheel, having live axle pieces, rotatably located within the casing andconnected at their inner ends with a differential gear, the combination of coaxialv perpendicular hinges on the axle casing between the central housing and the wheels near each end of the casing and a short dis tance from each of the wheels, a bell crank fastened on the back of each of the laterally swingablc portions ofthe axle casing ano extending rearwardly therefrom, a universal joint in the live' axle intersected by the axis of the vertical hinge on the axle casing, a laterally swingable portion of the live axle connected with the universal joint and journaled in the laterally swingable portion of the axle' casing and protruding outwardly through the e'nd of the swingable portion ot the axle casing, a lwheel hub with an outwardly projecting collar keyed rigidly on the protruding end of the swingable piece of live Laxle, a roomy recess being formed on the inner side ofthe hub on. the rim of which a wheel i is built in a plane intersecting the swingable l piece of live axle through its bearing in the t swingable iece of axle casing; horizontal gudgeons orwardly and rearwardly disi pissed on the centrally located housing of the l differential gear, a recess on the back end of the back gudgeons, rollers 4in the recess and a bearing on the yieldably supported body of the vehicle back of and against the rollers, bearings rotatably-fastened on the gudgeons, leaf springs across the bearings and fastened thereto the outer ends of the springs being fastened across under the front end of the body of the vehicle supporting it yieldably and holding the axle mechanism substantially kat right anglesacross the front of the vehicle.

2. In a front axle casing and housing havinginclosed sections of a live axle anda differential and driving gear centrally-located the, combination therewith of horizontal gudgeon's forwardly and rearwardly placed thereon centrally, a roller bearing between body of the vehicle, leaf springs fastened across the gudgeons and under the front end of the vehicle to carry it yieldably and hold the axle mechanism substantially at right angles to the body of the vehicle, co-axial 'vertical hinges on the axle casing near the outer ends, bell cranks on the hinged pieces of the axle casing and extending rearwardly, universal joints in the two sections of the livesaxle concentric with the vertical hinges on the axle casing, recessed wheels with outwardly projecting hubs keyed on the outer ends of the jointed axle, the 'planes of the wheel tires intersecting the axle bearings in the hinged port-ions of the axle casing.

Lewis K. BROWN. Vvlitnesses M. P. SHaLonNnss-i, W. S. ROGERS.

the back end of one of the gudgeons and they 

